02/16/2010 (4:51 pm)

Democrats are scrambling for explanations for the impending electoral disaster in the wake of Evan Bayh’s retirement announcement yesterday, according to Sam Stein at Huffington Post. It’s like watching a blind hog rooting for acorns. And we who understand how toxic the Democratic party policies are, hope they continue to root in similar fashion.

Listen to the “wisdom:”

Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the blog Daily Kos, said that the best way for Democrats to salvage the fate of the party before the 2010 elections is clear: “Deliver on their campaign promises.”

“No one is asking them to go out on a limb and do something they didn’t first run by the American people,” Moulitsas said, in an email to the Huffington Post. “The Dems are where they are because they got elected promising to be a party able to govern, and then spent the last year proving themselves wrong.”

Absolutely. Attempting to ram a health care disaster down the nation’s throats that 65% of Americans believe will make things worse, after declaring a health care crisis in an environment where 85% of Americans express satisfaction with their current health care, is certainly not asking anyone to go out on a limb to do something they didn’t run by the American people first. No, sir. You just keep talking, Markos.

And then there’s Lanny Davis:

On the opposite end of the Democratic Party spectrum, Lanny Davis, a longtime Clinton confidant and purveyor of the politics of compromise, offered a similar diagnosis.

“I know this will work because of what happened to Bill Clinton,” Davis said of the ability of policy accomplishments to turn around a poor narrative. “[President Obama's] failure to pass something showed him to be an ineffectual president. And the absence of effectiveness combined with the cynicism of government because of that absence of effectiveness… is toxic. It is Barack Obama that has to change that dynamic, and do it in a dramatic fashion to show he is an effective president.”

Yes, that’s it, Lanny. America is disappointed that President Obama did not succeed in passing everything that he has proposed. Keep saying that, Lanny. Please.

Kos Kid again:

“Republicans never doubt their agenda, and will use any tool at their disposal to ram it through,” Moulitsas wrote. “Democrats have internalized the criticisms about their agenda… dilly and dally and beg Republicans to join them… instead of following the lead of their opponents.”

Fascinating. I wonder what Markos calls midnight meetings, locking out opposition party members, voting on bills that have not even been read, bribing moderates with pork, threatening lack of re-election support, lying, demonizing, and all the rest. What tool did Democrats not use in their attempt to pass health care legislation, military assault? The irony is so thick you can cut it. But please, Markos, please keep talking this way.

Listen to Tad Devine:

Tad Devine, another longtime Democratic hand was just as blunt, advising lawmakers not to be wary of re-introducing voters to the previous White House’s record.

“We as Democrats seem to think there was some sort of sunset provision on the Bush administration,” Devine said. “That an administration that nearly bankrupted the country… is something that after six months we can’t even talk about any more is absurd. We have to be like Reagan and always remind people of the situation we walked into.”

Oooooh, yeah. Blame Bush. That’ll do the trick. Just keep on telling them that,Tad.

It would be hilariously funny if they were not so completely destructive. It does not even begin to occur to them that somewhere between 60% and 80% of the nation is dead-set opposed to turning more of their lives over to government, and opposed to increasing government spending in any significant way. They’re missing the central point: what they believe is the right thing for America, most Americans reject.

Mr. Kos is right on one item, but he does not know it. When he says “deliver on campaign promises,” if he meant for Obama to actually become what he promised he was during the election season, it might actually work. He posed as a post-partisan moderate; it was a lie. He’s a hard leftist, and has governed as one. The Democrats could salvage some credibility if they dropped their vicious tactics, their vicious rhetoric, their character assassination assaults, their doctored statistics, and actually cooperated in government with opposition party members to produce the sort of economically sensible, limited government most Americans want. But then they’d have to become something they’re not.

“The Democrats could salvage some credibility if they dropped their vicious tactics, their vicious rhetoric, their character assassination assaults, their doctored statistics, and actually cooperated in government with opposition party members to produce the sort of economically sensible, limited government most Americans want.”

I am constantly astounded by the statements made by various Dem supporters. Seemingly intelligent, seemingly honest people make statements that are so inconsistent with the facts that they cannot be judged to be other than either stupid or lying. I know part of this is the viewpoint one holds, but as they say, you can have your own opinion, but you can’t have your own facts. Nevertheless, that’s what they do – create their own facts.

I don’t see how we’re going to avoid a major disaster in this country. You cannot compromise with those who are irrational or unprincipled – you can only stand and defend or appease. The Dems keep calling for appeasment. The people are beginning to call for Republicans to stand and defend.

And therein lies the problem. Calling for Republicans to stand and defend. Color me cynical, but there’s no opportunity that the Stupid Party can’t fumble away. I still haven’t seen a coordinated message of what the opposition stands for. You can only be against something for so long before you have to produce an alternative. Given the behavior of the Republican majority earlier this century, I’m not holding my breath. Michael Steele is still in charge, after all.

>>You can only be against something for so long before you have to produce an alternative. >>

I don’t disagree with you – at least not entirely – but when you see the effort by the GOP to offer alternatives, and how those efforts have been dismissed, and how they’ve been excluded from any negotiations…what should the GOP do?

The reason for the “not entirely” is that sometimes you just have to say “no”. You know the old story of “Madam, we are not discussing _what_ you are – we are simply discussing the price”…! Sometimes negotiating is not the answer. If you have principles, and to negotiate requires you to compromise those principles, then the answer _has_ to be “NO”.
But…I _do_ wish the GOP would be more aggressive in broadcasting their principles and their reasons for non-negotiation when that’s the case.

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